Rainn Wilson Calls Out ‘Anti-Christian Bias’ in ‘Last of Us’ Episode

Rainn Wilson seems to be craving the days where mainstream shows like 7th Heaven and The Waltons touted conservative, Christian beliefs – but, now, times have changed! The Office star took to Twitter to accuse HBO’s The Last of Us series of promoting “anti-Christian bias” in Hollywood for their portrayal of a pastor who is revealed to be a cannibalistic child predator in the penultimate episode. 

On Saturday (March 11), Wilson tweeted, “I do think there is an anti-Christian bias in Hollywood. As soon as the David character in The Last of Us started reading from the Bible, I knew that he was going to be a horrific villain.”

The actor continued, “Could there be a Bible-reading preacher on a show who is actually loving and kind?”

Wilson, who made a name for himself in comedy after playing The Office‘s Dwight for all nine seasons, was referring to a character introduced in the eighth episode of the post- apocalyptic series called “When We Are in Need.”

The episode introduces a character named David (Troy Baker). He is the pastor of a small community in Wyoming. At first, he appears to be a man of god, but as the episode progresses, he expresses his devotion to the show’s infected creatures, Cordyceps, instead. (Judging by Wilson’s response, it seems that he didn’t get that far.)

As tensions grow between David and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a young girl who is the protagonist of the show, the pastor reveals his true intentions, saying, “I’ve always had a violent heart. And I struggled with it for a long time. But then the world ended and I was shown the truth.” 

Ellie suggests that he was “shown the truth” by God, which David denies, saying it was “by Cordyceps.” He goes on to tell her, “I’m a Shepard surrounded by sheep and all I want is an equal, a friend,” denying his perceived faith.

Wilson’s tweet gathered comments from people sharing their favorite good faith Christian characters within entertainment, naming Mr. Rogers from his title show and The Priest from Fleabag, along with characters from Firefly, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and The Simpsons. 

One example stood out in particular: Barbara Howard from Abbott Elementary – a role which earned actor Sheryl Lee Ralph a Primetime Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award after the show’s debut season. 

Ralph weighed in on the conversation herself, telling Wilson, “Teacher not preacher, Barbara Howard.” She also retweeted a comment which echoed a similar sentiment, reading, “Not a preacher, but @thesherylralph on Abbott Elementary comes to mind. She’s a nuanced, flawed, deeply Christian character, but she learns. And not in a way that undoes her beliefs, she learns thru leaning into the empathy, love, & compassion she has through her faith.”

Teacher not preacher, Barbara Howard @AbbottElemABC https://t.co/sdGEABpzDM

— sheryl lee ralph (@thesherylralph) March 12, 2023

In another turn of events, Wilson seemingly dissed rock n’ roll music – which has a history of being considered “evil” in Chrisitan religions – by quoting Frank Sinatra’s take on the genre.

“Sinatra on RockNRoll: ‘brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious. It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people,” he tweeted. “It smells phoney and false. It’s sung, played and written, for the most part, by cretinous goons… This rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore.'”

Wilson has a novel set to debut in April called Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, a follow-up to his two previous works, Soul Pancake and The Bassoon King. 

I’m not exactly sure what Wilson is getting at with these two tweets, but I can confidently say that him outing himself as a Super Christian was not on my 2023 Bingo Card.